Paralyzed
by Majestic Weirdo
Summary: Haruka has a terrible car accident that leaves her paralyzed. Michiru will have to make quite a few adjustments to her life. To see the most updated version of this story, go to foreverfandom dot com and search for my pen name or the title of this story.
1. The Accident

Haruka was speeding in her black sports car again. Micihru was gripping the door handle tightly to prevent herself from smacking into the windshield. She had asked Haruka to slow down several times, but she had only sped up. Michiru wasn't even sure that Haruka realized how far past the speed limit she actually going. It was a miracle that she had not been pulled over, and an even greater one that she hadn't hit anything. Haruka Tenoh was a professional auto racer and stuntwoman, but Michiru never felt safe letting her drive. It was the only part of Haruka that she didn't trust with all of her heart and soul.

Michiru shrieked as a little girl in pigtails skipped merrily across the street. Haruka had paid no attention to the yellow "school crossing" sign as she passed by it at one hundred miles per hour and swerved just in time to miss making a huge mess in the street. Michiru looked back out of the passenger seat's window to see the child start crying.  
"Haruka! Slow down right now! You almost just hit that gi-"  
Haruka cut her off as she almost ran down a pregnant woman pushing a stroller. Michiru just sat back and closed her eyes. She couldn't stand it any more. She knew that Haruka would not hit anything, so she just closed her eyes and hoped for the best.

Twenty minutes later, Michiru heard a sound that Haruka's car had never made before. Michiru's eyes snapped open just in time to see Haruka's car hit the eighteen-wheeler propane truck. It had suddenly changed into Haruka's lane without signaling with its lights. Haruka would have switched lanes, but there was a school bus full of children in the next lane over. The sound was Haruka putting her foot heavily on the brakes, but she hadn't made it. Neither of them had time to scream. Haruka's eyes met Michiru's for only a millisecond before Haruka was flung through the windshield as the truck came in contact with the driver's side. Michiru could see that Haruka had once again forgotten to wear her seatbelt, but then the damage that had been done to Haruka's side already, rippled to hers and her vision faded.

**Majestic Weirdo**_ Yeah, that was the whole chapter. Please review._


	2. Paralyzed

Michiru Kaioh had a broken arm, a broken rib, and a slight concussion. Haruka was another story. The nurse had waited until Michiru could correctly tell her that the year was 2005 to tell her all about her lover's fate. Nearly every bone in Haruka's body was broken. Her neck, her spine, even her skull. Her left arm had actually torn off during her violent impact with the pavement. Haruka had lost nearly all of the blood in her body, but due to all of the (fan girls with O- and B- blood types, and even some who couldn't give blood tried to offer theirs) people who gladly gave their blood for the world-renowned racer, Haruka's heart continued to beat. The doctors had never seen a case like hers, the nurse had told her. Several American surgeons were on their way to the hospital already. Michiru was told that it would be a medical miracle if Haruka lived through the night. If she did, Haruka would be the most vegetative case the world would ever see.

Haruka Tenoh's lover did not take the news very well at all. Michiru had first listened to the nurse carefully and silently, but then what the woman was saying seemed to register in her mind: Haruka was going to die. The woman that she loved with all of her heart was dying.  
"No!" she cried.  
The nurse gave Michiru a very sympathetic gaze and tried to comfort her with lies.  
"It's okay, Miss Kaioh, she'll be fine! Don't work your self up about it. You really need to get some rest or your injuries will never hea-"  
"WHERE IS SHE?" Michiru shrieked, completely ignored the pain in her abdomen and tearing the IV from her good arm with her mouth. Michiru looked like a mad woman, with a bloody bandage wrapped around her forehead and panting while she held her broken arm in place. "WHERE THE HL IS SHE?"

The nurse tried to get Michiru to lie back down but Michiru pushed the middle-aged woman aside and stormed outside of the curtained recovery section of the hospital. The nurse pressed the emergency button on the wall and watched the hysterical woman go. A moment later a group of doctors rushed to the room where Michiru had been. The nurse pointed to the (emergency room) direction in Michiru had fled and described her erratic actions. The group caught up to Michiru before she could further endanger her life and those of the newly admitted patients in the emergency ward. Three of the doctors held the woman still while another bent Michiru over and injected a large dose of a heavy sedative into her buttock through the hospital yukata she was wearing.

Michiru was still struggling in the grasp of the doctors for nearly a minute until the medication took complete control of her body. She fell into their arms with one more call of Haruka's name and then sank into the beginning of her drug-induced coma. Haruka awoke from her own coma days before the doctors dared to remove Michiru from hers. Scans showed that part of the brain that could control emotion had been damaged in the accident. She would need surgery before she could even begin to think about Haruka again if there was going to be anything done about her flinging herself off of a balcony.

Haruka's body had been repaired as well as the American team and the best of Japan's surgeons could manage, but her body would be scarred for the rest of her life. She remembered everything up until the very moment of the crash. The only thing that was truly different about her was that Haruka was paralyzed from the waist down. Haruka would definitely get herself into the Guinness Records.


	3. A Little Support

The amount of times that Haruka had asked to see Michiru was innumerable. Haruka had first gotten to see her three weeks after the accident. The doctors had told her that Michiru was okay and that she was just having tests done, but Haruka couldn't allow herself to believe them, just like she hadn't been able to believe it when the doctors told her that she would never (drive or make love to Michiru) walk again. Haruka had tried to cope with her fate, but the cameras had caught her in tears every night. It had become a schedule to give Haruka her sleeping pill when she woke up at twelve in the morning. Michiru had been brought into her room on a bed that was identical to hers. Michiru was still on medication to help control her emotions, but she would be off soon and it was decided that Haruka would need her support to go on.

The nurse who brought Michiru in gently pulled the blanket from on top of her and helped her into a chair beside Haruka's bed. Haruka was overjoyed that Michiru wasn't attached to any machines. She looked fine with an exception of the bruise on her forehead and the small patch of shaved scalp where the doctors had made the incision. Haruka was hooked up to half the machines in the hospital and both arms were covered in needles. Michiru had been told that Haruka may be acting strange due to pain-killers that she was on. Half of them were addictive; Haruka still wasn't expected to live much longer, so it didn't matter much.

Even though Haruka had been waiting for weeks to see her lover, she had no idea of how to start a conversation. She had almost killed the both of them with her stupid recklessness. Michiru had warned her so many times, but she hadn't listened and now she had ruined everything that they had together.  
"Michiru, I'm so sorry," she moaned. Haruka sounded slightly like Darth Vader over the roaring of the machines.  
Michiru shook her head and took Haruka's hand, the only part of Haruka that she was authorized to touch.  
"Haruka, it's going to be okay," she cooed, clasping Haruka's hand tightly.  
Haruka was silent for a while, and then she barely uttered, "I can't move my legs."

Michiru could hear that Haruka was crying even though she could not see her face through the numerous bags of blood, water and countless things that were flowing in and out of her.  
"I love you, Haruka. You know that." Tears were also coming from Michiru's eyes. The medicine that she was on should have prevented it, but she couldn't help that she was crying. "It doesn't matter to me, as long as you are alive and well."  
Haruka didn't think that her condition should be described as "well", but she didn't argue.  
"I will always stay with you no matter what, Haruka."

The nurse came back into the room to collect Michiru, telling her that her time was up. Haruka needed more painful procedures to be done on her body, but she had enough inspiration from Michiru to want to make her way through them.


	4. Life With Haruka

Michiru must have gained about fifteen pounds of muscles in her arms from toting Haruka around the house. Michiru hadn't had the heart to hire a caretaker and she knew that Haruka would never be comfortable with one anyway. Haruka was still having trouble getting into her wheelchair by herself, so Michiru either lifted Haruka into her chair or carried or pulled her to her destinations. Haruka's coordination wasn't what it used to be. Haruka couldn't cook a meal due to her poor motor function and she still didn't have full control over her bladder and bowels. Michiru often had to clean up more than one mess on the bed each morning. She still wasn't even considering a caretaker after two years.

Michiru's schedule had changed drastically. She no longer had time to play the violin or paint when Haruka was awake, and when she was asleep, Michiru was too winded from the day's activities to do anything other than join her paralyzed lover and call it a night. She got up at five o'clock to start breakfast. By the time she was finished, Haruka was awake, and she cleaned whatever mess the poor thing had made during the night. Then she bathed Haruka and fed her. Afterwards, she had to take Haruka in for physical therapy. When she came back, it was already late in the afternoon and she began dinner. After Haruka was fed (it took her a long time to chew and swallow), it was already about ten o'clock and she put Haruka to bed. Then she tidied the house, washed the clothes, and took a shower. After that, Michiru went to bed for four hours of sleep and the cycle started over again.

Haruka was afraid to ask Michiru to do anything else for her. Her back was itching like mad and there were certain parts of her that were also itching to be touched, but she was far too embarrassed to ask Michiru to touch her for any more than the short amount of time she put aside for it. Michiru didn't have any free time anyway. She felt terrible for ruining Michiru's life like she had. Then again, Michiru could leave her at any time; after all, they were not bound by marriage. Still, it felt so wrong to do this to her. If only she had listened to Michiru's advisements to slow down, none of this would have happened. Haruka didn't know what she had been thinking back then, but she now thought it would be easier on them both if them if she could just die in her sleep.

She had gotten desperate enough to try it once. Haruka had tried to suffocate herself in her pillow while Michiru had been cooking breakfast. She had almost succeeded, but only because her arms had almost been too weak push herself up; Haruka had actually been too afraid to go through with it. Michiru had come back into the room with her tray to see her face completely blue. She had nearly dropped the tray, but managed to get it onto the nightstand before she panicked. Michiru had nearly had a heart attack, but Haruka had told her that she was fine. Michiru had still taken her back to the hospital. The doctor told Michiru that Haruka was as fine as she would ever get, but when Michiru had been asked to leave the room, the doctor had told her to have courage. Perhaps what she had done was a bit more apparent than she thought. Michiru had kept an extra eye on her after that.

Michiru had still made time to comfort Haruka. She saved a bit of time every day to try to get Haruka to play the piano again. She would never be able to drive again, but Michiru thought it was possible that with enough practice, Haruka's fingers would be able to move like they had before and make the beautiful music that she used to enjoy. She kissed her still, and occasionally used her fingers to please Haruka, even though everything wasn't functioning down there and she had to use lubricant. Michiru herself had gone a long time without anything and she had been tempted to buy a vibrator, but she realized that she would never have time to do such petty things. She wondered what would become of Haruka if she were to die before her. She wondered if she would be able to take it if Haruka died. Most of all, Michiru wondered if she could actually spend all of her life like this.


	5. Awakening

Michiru was taking her nightly shower when Haruka began to choke. Haruka had been reaching to her dresser for some of the grapes Michiru had left for her dessert. She was halfway into chewing one of the small green fruits when she was suddenly was unable to swallow. Haruka tried to spit it up, but it was too far down her throat to do any good. The water continued to run even as Haruka began to cough. Haruka grabbed at her throat as if it would suddenly allow her to breathe. She struggled for nearly a minute before her body began to convulse. Then her heart ceased to beat.

Amazingly, Haruka could still hear Michiru turn the shower off. A second later Michiru stepped out of the bathroom. She looked happy until she saw Haruka on the bed. Michiru rushed over to Haruka's side instantly.  
"Haruka? Are you alright?" she asked, shaking Haruka's body back and forth.  
Haruka, of course, couldn't answer.  
Michiru gave up on shaking her lover and then slapped her slightly on the cheek.  
"Wake up silly! You must be having a nightmare!" Michiru laughed.

Haruka's eyes snapped open. She looked around to see their bedroom as it had been before the accident. There were racing magazines on the small table on her side, and Michiru's violin case was where she kept it handy on her side. More importantly, there was no wheelchair to be seen. Haruka shot out of bed instantly taking Michiru by surprise. Then Haruka looked down at herself. She was standing.  
Haruka shook her head, her mouth wide open in disbelief.  
"Michiru! I can stand!" she exclaimed.  
Michiru nodded, staring at Haruka. "And…?"  
Haruka's eyes were bulging. "Michiru, I'm, I'm paralyzed…"

"Haruka, don't be silly, it was just a dream."  
Michiru gave her lover one more questioning look and then went to dry her hair.  
Haruka still couldn't believe that it had all been a dream. Everything had seemed so real. Eventually, Haruka sat back down on the bed, gazing at her perfectly functioning legs that would probably serve her another good sixty years.  
"Hey, Michiru…would you like to go to the aquarium?" Haruka remembered it to be their destination before the crash.  
Michiru turned around from her mirror and smiled at Haruka. "Yeah! But first, would you mind a little breakfast? I'm really hungry."

Haruka was more than happy to be able to do something for Michiru. She made a hearty breakfast for the both of them, and then packed a lunch for the aquarium. Haruka drove under the speed limit for the first time in her life. Michiru took several glances at Haruka to see if she was alright, but she didn't have to remind Haruka to slow down. Halfway into the drive, a report of a pileup at their exit came on the radio.


	6. Update Note

Thank you for reading my stroy, Paralyzed. I have corrected all the mistakes that I (and a couple of friends), so if you see anymore, please review or email me. Thanks. I am curently correcting all of my stories, butI will be writing a Mamoru-Rei story soon. Thanks again.


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